Part two of Its the Future are we there yet?

In my childhood I rode my bike all over the town of Bruce, with my parent’s blessing, and wearing a helmet never occurred to me or my parents. Now I see kids on tricycles in their own yards and they better be wearing a helmet, or his parents are guilty of child abuse. The mere notion, (that was alive and well when I was a kid), was that life is risky and certain bad things are just going to happen from time to time. Well, that thought is gone today. Now life must be safe, and anything that makes it unsafe must be done away with, or at least severely punished.

Manufacturers of anything are sued into oblivion every time one of their products is even remotely involved in an accident, because their product isn’t safe enough. The greatest cost in manufacturing a step ladder is to offset the cost of the inevitable lawsuits brought by those who hurt themselves using it. How dare ladders not be made 100% safe, no matter how it’s used or misused?

It hasn’t been that long ago that a man had the RIGHT to risk his own life and even be a damned fool about it if he so chose. Not any more. Now, every time something tragic happens as a result of adventurers doing adventurous things, such as a death or injury during a mountain climb, there follows the cry to outlaw said activity “for their own good.” Safety must be imposed on the foolish and daring for their own good.

I suppose that if the powers that be had their way and could play Big Brother Nanny, they would manipulate and work behind the scenes and fiddle with our destinies because they are totally motivated by the desire that everything be 100 percent safe. Every thing would be designed to keep everyone safe from anything that might possibly cause them harm.

If the Big Brother Nanny had his way, there would be no sharp corners or no splinters or no cracks in pavement for us to hang our toes. All cars and highways would be safe because they would be able to control our cars by computer and an alarm could go off in some far away room and warn BBN that we were going over the speed limit and they could just shut down the engine. Or better yet they might watch and see how many hours we had driven and they would decide that we might be too tired to drive so they start sending out the message that we need to pull over and sleep.

A small segment of the American people have already shown themselves to be willing to trade freedom for safety. The government already regulates us, in case we make stupid choices. We are taxed so we don’t spend our wealth in foolish pursuits. The demand to MAKE US SAFE has already created groups that will frown upon all adventurous individuals as dangerous and insane! Gone are the days when you could just go to the doctor and have surgery. Now he has to worry if he will be sued for NOT curing what ails you. We are on a terrible path to safety above all else. And that my friends means more control over our lives.

I don’t know about you, but I believe in free choice. The good Lord gave us a brain and he knows that we only come to him freely of our own will and not because he has manipulated us. I once decided to fold myself up and squeeze my rotund butt into a 55 gallon plastic drum and roll down the hill between my house and my Moms. Why? Because it seemed like it would be a fun thing to do. I broke a rib doing that but I didn’t sue the manufacturer of the plastic barrel from not putting a warning label on the thing. I just wrapped my ribs and took Tylenol and sat up very straight for a few days. Did I learn a lesson? You bet I did. I learned that I wanted to do it again but the next time I wanted padding in the barrel with me!

Is the adventurous spirit dying in people? We are in the future minus the jetpacks and flying cars and pretty soon minus the freedom to decide if we want those adventurous things. Why can’t we continue to use free choice in all aspects of our lives? If Freedom to choose is good enough for God then it ought to be good enough for the Big Brother Nanny state. I’ll be willing to bet they don’t believe. What do you think?